Believer
by Mrs.Randista
Summary: Maria wants John Cena.John isn't too keen on the idea,neither is his girlfriend.But that's never stopped Maria before.So she begins a scheme to get him away from Michelle and make him hers once and for all with Candice and Jeff in tow, and trouble ensues.
1. Love In Your Arms

_Chapter 1_

**Love In Your Arms**

Maria was completely and utterly in love. Or at least she thought she was but others like her two best friends Candice Michelle and Jeff Hardy knew better. It was more like in lust and the object of her affection was John Cena.

"Just look at him Candice. He's like Hercules with those muscles." She let out a dreamy sigh and Candice let out an annoyed sigh of her own.

"Are we looking at the same person?" Candice had tried plenty of times to focus Maria's romantic attention on someone else who she believed deserved Maria's attention but her attempts were to no avail.

Maria believed they were meant to be. In her mind no one but her deserved to be with him. Of course that didn't guarantee she was with him, because she wasn't. She and John were hardly even friends. He knew to stay away from her. He saw the looks she gave him. He had a girlfriend by the name of Michelle McCool and was very much in love with her. Real true love not like the kind Maria felt for him.

Maria was not obvious to the fact that John had a girlfriend. She knew that fact pretty well having to share a locker room with Michelle and all. But it didn't deter her in the slightest bit of making John hers because she believed they belonged together.

Candice and Maria were currently in the cafeteria of the arena. They had come in hopes of avoiding Layla and Regal who wanted to _talk _in Layla and Candice's shared locker room. If Candice knew she would only watch Maria drool over John instead she would have stayed in her room.

"Snap out of it Maria. He's taken." Candice said as she stood up in hopes of leaving and finding something better to do. Not wanting to look like a fool sitting there staring at John by herself Maria stood up too and followed Candice out of the room.

"If you would help me come up with something he won't be taken for long."

"I'm not getting in on one of your little schemes to break them up. They are happy together and should be left alone."

"They are not happy together. He's practically begging to get away from her. He's trapped. She has him like a caged bird and only I can see it. He pleads to me through those beautiful eyes to set him free. So that's what I am going to do. I am going to open the cage door for him and he will fly straight to me and then he will truly be happy." Maria finished her rant with a satisfied smile and dreamy look on her face. Candice knew right away she had lost her.

"We'll see about that." Ending the conversation Candice and Maria continued to walk around the arena until they reached Jeff's locker room. Upon finding it Maria simply barged in without knocking.

"Hello, Jeffrey." She said as she walked in past him to sit on one of the benches in the room. Candice did the same but slapped Jeff's head as she walked past him. Jeff closed the door glad he had just finished changing into his ring attire before they came in.

"And who do I owe the pleasure of this visit to?" He said as he went back to lacing up his shoes.

"The horrible God of Boredom. He has seemed to have taken an unkindly liking to me today." Candice said as she stood up and began walking around his room. "Where's Matt?"

"I don't know. Shouldn't you be getting ready for the show?" He was done lacing his shoes and had moved on to stretching and preparing his body for his match.

"Sadly we are not on the card tonight." Candice had moved on from walking around the room aimlessly to snooping through Matt's things.

"What do you plan on doing then?"

"I know what I'll be doing. Can you believe John has three appearances tonight? Three! I mean talk about my lucky day. He's in the main event too so his match should be extra long! I just know he's going to be extra sexy today. Did you see him? The sexiness just pours off of him. That's probably why he's with that witch. Some of his sexiness probably leaked off of him and on to her making her look halfway decent in his eyes." She finally paused to catch her breath. "If my theory holds true then that means all I have to do is hang around him and poof I'm sexier in his eyes!"

"Possibly…"Jeff said looking at Candice for help but she was too busy digging through Matt's things.

"So it's settled. Now I have to make an outline and everything. I expect you guys at my room door tomorrow morning at nine. I'll have the outline ready and everything we need to do." She then got up from her seat and walked back to her locker room to start on the outline.

"Why didn't you help me?" Candice simply turned with a raised eyebrow at Jeff. "Now she's going to be obsessing over this new plan of hers and roping us into it!"

"You left me to talk her out of 'Operation: Concoct a Love Potion for John to Drink'. She didn't even ask for your help with that one or the other one with the love spells. She took me to some freaky witch stores. I had to be the lab rat with both of those. I even got a stomach virus from one of her potions."

"I only did that because you left me out to dry on the one where she tried to make me seduce Michelle."

"Oh yeah, I remember that one." Candice said laughing. "It doesn't matter because now, she wants both of us."

* * *

Maria was in her locker room sitting on the floor. She believed that her plans came better to her while sitting on the floor. She had her notebook in her lap with half of the outline done, but she wasn't writing anymore. Instead she had her ultimate death glare focused on Michelle who was on the other side of the room preparing for her match. It was obvious to everyone but Michelle that Maria did not like her. Maria liked to think that Michelle knew but pretended she didn't just to spite her, but Michelle honestly didn't know Maria didn't like her.

Before Michelle and John had got together, she and Maria had been really close. They were friends and did a lot of things together, but John changed everything. Part of their friendship had been based on their like for John. They would spend hours together gushing over everything about him.

But then one day when Maria had been working up the nerve to finally do something about the crush, Michelle got paired up with him for a match. After the match he asked her to dinner and things just went on from there.

All of the time Maria and Michelle used to spend together was transferred over to Michelle and John time. With that the animosity began to build up and Maria ended up hating Michelle. It was during this time that she became friends with Candice and Jeff.

She wanted to leave the room before she said or did something she regretted but it was her hate for Michelle that fueled most of her schemes. So she lessened her glare and turned her attention back on her plan. But it didn't work for long. Kelly Kelly walked in and started talking to Michelle. Their conversation quickly turned to John and Maria knew she had to get out. She refused to sit there and listen to them talk about John and Michelle's love life while she was there. So she got up to find Candice again. She needed someone she could rant to.

Walking down the hallway she bumped into Ted DiBiase. Now Ted was a special case. In a way he was just like Maria. He had an object of his affections who he believed was his one true love, and that person was Maria. He was enthralled by her. But it was hard to figure out if he was in lust like Maria, or if he really did love her. But he was lucky because she considered him a friend at least, so half of the battle was done for him.

"Teddy! It's been ages since we've talked." He smiled and opened his arms for a hug. "How have things been for you?"

"Everything's good for me, what about you?"

"Ughh Horrible." She said remembering what happened before she bumped into him. She then explained what happened in the locker room and her new plan to get John.

"Maria, trust me on this, you do not need to be around him to get some of his 'sexiness' to rub off on you." It was said with air quotes on the sexiness too. "You are more than sexy. You're beautiful, and it's his problem if he can't see that."

"Awww ! Thank you. That's so sweet of you to say that. But I have faith in this plan. It will be the one that works. I'm going to make it work!" With new found determination she set off to find Candice again because she was going to make some kind of plan work. It was going to work because she was beautiful. Teddy said so himself.

Ted on the other hand was left stunned. That was not the first time something like that had happened to him. Often he would tell her something he believed would put down John and make her see he was the one for him and it always ended with her faith in John renewed and him being seen as a great friend.

* * *

Candice was still in the Hardy locker room. Jeff had gone to fight his match and she had grown bored of looking through both of their things. She would have left but she knew there was nothing else to do but listen to Maria rant, so she stayed where she was.

"Waiting for me Baby?" Matt walked into the room smiling. Candice however didn't return the smile.

"Say it a little louder. I don't think the crowd heard you." She said as Matt walked over to where she was sitting and pulled her up from her seat.

"Oh come on. No one's here and Jeff is still in his match. Besides we haven't had some good alone time in five days." She gave in to him and gave him the kiss she knew he was waiting for. They pulled away for air and Matt rested his head on her shoulder. "I love the way you smell." He inhaled deeply and she could feel the smile on his face. "Please remind me why we have to keep this a secret."

"I've told you this a million times. Maria is crazy enough and feeling sorry with herself for not having someone. That's why she's after John like this. If she knows we're together she's going to think she needs someone too. And the fact that we do not know how Jeff will react."

"Yeah there's always that." He said sighing, but not lifting his head from it's resting place. "I wish he didn't like you. I feel so bad about this. He's my brother, but I can't be without you."

"I know just give it some more time."

They stayed like that for some time, but their time together came to a quick end when someone barged through the door. Candice quickly shoved Matt away from her afraid that she had been too late. Luckily for them, Maria was too concerned with writing something down in her notebook to take notice of the scene in front of her. By the time she did look up Candice was back sitting and Matt had moved over to his things to take off his gear.

"Candice I need your help. I've changed the operation. It's now Operation Make John Realize I am Beautiful! Teddy gave me the idea. Wasn't that so sweet of him?"

"Yeah, who knew he was so nice? Why don't you go after him instead?" Candice like most people knew how Ted felt about Maria. She had been trying to convince Maria to go out with him for the last three months but it wasn't working. She wanted to just tell her flat out that the guy was in love with her but she knew it wasn't her place to disclose that information.

"Teddy? Oh please. We're friends. That's it. He likes someone else anyway." Another reason why she wouldn't go out with him. She was convinced he like someone else. Of course she didn't know that person was her.

"Yeah sure he does. Now what were you saying about this plan?"

* * *

_**This is something new that came to me. I figured new year=new story so here it is.I have no idea how often updates will be, but I do know I plan on having fun with this one so writing chapters should come easy. I hope you enjoy **_


	2. Price of Company

_Chapter 2_

**Price of Company**

The next morning Candice and Jeff found themselves waiting in Maria's room as she showered and got dressed. They had made sure not to arrive at nine because they knew she wouldn't be ready. They arrived at ten thirty instead only to find Maria still in the bed sleeping. Sensing someone watching her Maria did awaken, but refused to discuss anything about John Cena looking like she did (which wasn't bad at all) so she rushed into the bathroom to take a shower and prepare herself for the day.

That left Candice and Jeff alone in the room. Candice nervously shifted around the room before sitting down on the bed. Ever since she and Matt had started dating some odd months ago she had never been comfortable being alone with Jeff in silence. Her guilt would eat away at her and she could feel the words of her confession clawing their way up her throat trying to escape from her mouth. The guilt was even larger when the previous night had been spent with Matt, which it had been.

"Wake me up when she's done." Jeff said as he plopped back onto the bed next to Candice.

Candice and Jeff had been friends since her arrival to the WWE. He was one of the first people she met and became friends with. She loved how down to earth he was and how he didn't care what others thought of him. But even in those early days of friendship with Jeff there was a spark between Candice and Matt. He intrigued her. To her he was a tall, dark, mysterious and handsome hunk that she had to have. Neither Candice nor Matt took any actions towards their feelings until about a year into the friendship. It started with light flirting and joking. But right as they began developing thoughts of taking the next step Jeff dropped a bomb on Matt.

He told him of his enormous crush on Candice. That immediately halted anything Matt was thinking of doing with Candice. He stepped right into the protective older brother role and severed any ties he had with Candice. But since that day a good two years ago Jeff had still not confessed his feelings to Candice and they were way larger than a crush now.

Matt tried extremely hard to stay away from Candice. He even told her about Jeff's feelings hoping she would understand why they couldn't be together, but that wasn't enough. The feelings between them were too strong and they eventually gave in. They knew what they had was wrong and that they were hurting someone they both loved, but not matter how hard they tried to separate they were continually pulled together like magnets.

"Okay now that I am beautiful again, it's time to discuss this plan." Maria barged out of the bathroom fully dressed with little books in her hands. She quickly moved across the room and sat down on the bed behind Candice. She threw a book at Jeff and it hit his stomach causing him to sit up and let out a sound that was between a strangled cat and a surprised bird. Candice turned around on the bed just in time to catch the book Maria sent flying towards her back. "Now these are top secret guys. Guard these with your life. If these were to fall into the wrong hands, all hell would break loose."

"When did you find time to write out the plan with scripts included and make it into a book between last night and now?" Jeff said as he flipped through the book.

"Don't worry about that. Now, on to more important and better things. This is Operation: Make John See How Beautiful I Am Compared to the Troll Michelle. I have written out the detailed happenings of this operation. Each of you has your own parts in it. There is ultimately three big major phases and steps. Phase one is working my way in and being noticed. While I do this you two are going to snoop around and find out what he likes and dislikes. Then with that information I move on to phase two which is becoming friends. The friendship would mean more time around him and he will see my beauty. Phase three is simply the move Michelle out and move me in phase. Some how, I don't know how yet, we will move her out of the picture and get me in there and voila, John and I are together at last!"

"Oh that John sure is a god in the ring. How on earth does he stay so fit? Are you serious? Do you know what would happen to me if I went around the guys saying this?"

"No Jeff, mines is so much better. Oh Michelle that boyfriend of yours is so hard to get in touch with. He must spend all day at the gym to stay fit like that. Oh wait he doesn't? What else could he possibly do? He feeds starving kids in Africa? Reads to orphaned children, and adopts abused rabbits too? I just knew he had a good soul deep down. Don't you feel bad for tainting him with your skanky evil bitchness?"

"Aren't they prefect? This would make the perfect movie. I was thinking of sending it to a director out in Hollywood!" Candice and Jeff answered with blank stares. "Well back to the plan for now. I want to start on this immediately. So I want you guys to go around and ask as many people as you can to tell you about him. Then on Monday I'm going to need you Candice to distract Michelle while John's in our locker room so I can have some alone time with him."

"I'm oozing from excitement about having this conversation with her!" Candice said in a monotone voice.

"That's the sprit to have. Just imagine if the plan works on the time line I have planned for it John could be all mine in as little as two months!"

"Well I have to go I'm on the card for the show tonight." Candice said as she got up from the bed and walked over to the door.

"Wait you're leaving you book."

"Oh yeah. I wouldn't want to leave that behind."

"Candice wait." Jeff got up from the bed and hurried after her. When he caught up to her she was halfway down the hallway. "I was just thinking that since both of us are booked for tonight we could travel to the arena together like we used to." He said as he nervously scratched the back of his head.

Candice didn't know what to say. Of course Jeff was on the card too. Why did she not think of that last night when she and Matt agreed to travel together? They had thought it would be the alone time they had been praying for. She couldn't just say no to him. Matt was his brother and she was his best friend. It would seem suspicious if she didn't let him got along with them.

"Oh well I'm traveling with Matt." All of the nervousness left his face and dejection replaced it instead. "But you could always come with us. I mean I only agreed to go with him because I didn't know you had to go too."

"Yeah, that'll work too. What time are you leaving?"

"About two."

"Okay see you then."

* * *

Maria was having no luck with her plan so far. She couldn't find anyone to talk about John with. The only people she ran into where his close friends and she wasn't stupid enough to ask them. If she did then word would get back to John that she was going around asking people about him and then her plan would come to a dead end because he wouldn't want to spend time with her.

She was aimlessly walking around the hotel when she heard a voice that stopped her heart. She quickly stopped to track where it was coming from. When the direction was clear she quickly walked over to where she heard it coming from. The closer she got the faster her heart rate picked up. She was so close she thought her heart was going to jump into her throat. Finally she peaked her head around the corner and there he was. Well the back of his head was all she saw but to her it was a beautiful back of the head. He was alone talking into his phone walking with his gym bag slung across his shoulder.

Moving quick before he was out of her reach she practically ran up to him. Right as she was about to tap him she stopped. What would she say? Wasn't it rude to interrupt his phone conversation? Her simple hesitation was too long. By the time she made up her mind to tap him he had arrived at his room and walked in.

"And so we meet again." She jumped at the voice not hearing any footsteps but turned around and managed a half smile at who she saw.

"Hey Teddy."

"Not as enthusiastic as yesterday. Is something wrong?" He asked as he walked up to her examining her face as if it would tell him what was wrong.

"It's nothing, just bored with no one to bother." This time the smile she put on was slightly more genuine.

"Well I was just heading off to lunch. You can come if you want."

"Sure nothing else for me to do around here." And with that said they were off, but before the left the hallway Maria cast one last glance at John's room door. _'So close'_, she though as she turned back to follow Ted, so close but still so far away.

* * *

Candice walked quickly to the garage of the hotel with Jeff trying hard to keep up with her. He had offered to take her bags and she dumped them all on him before practically running to the garage. Neither she nor Jeff had been able to contact Matt to tell him about the change in plans. Candice knew that she had to go ahead of Jeff and alert Matt because she knew he was going to be standing there perched against the car waiting to say something that would give them away.

"Candice could you please slow down just a little? I mean you don't have the lightest bags." Jeff said as he struggled with the bags he was carrying.

"Can't keep up?" She said as she sped up a little to put more distance between them. It was then that Matt finally came into her view.

"Hey Candy Bab–?" Matt abruptly stopped what he was saying when he saw Candice mouthing something he couldn't make out and jerking her head towards something behind her. "Is there something wrong with your neck or voice or something?" He asked moving forward to check for himself, but as he reached out to take her head in his hands she moved out of his reach and walked right past him. "Well good afternoon to you too." He rolled his eyes about to complain about her attitude more when he finally saw Jeff who was struggling with the bags. "Jeff?"

"Yeah, a little help here?" Matt quickly went to his brother and took some of the bags from him.

"I didn't know you were coming with us." He said as he threw the bags into the trunk of the car.

"Maybe if you answered you phone once in a while you would know." Candice said from her position in the passenger seat of the car. She was getting over the heart attack she nearly had.

"I told you last night that my phone was dead and I lost my charger." Matt said slamming the trunk closed angry that Candice was taking her anger out on him.

"You guys were together last night?" Both Candice and Matt froze.

"Yeah at the arena when you went to do your match. We were talking in the locker room and he told me then." Candice said quickly recovering from her shock.

"Oh." Candice shot Matt a dirty look as he sat down in the driver seat of the car and he just smiled sheepishly back at her.

* * *

Maria looked up from eating her lunch to see Ted staring at her from across the table. The lunch had been fairly quiet, Maria too wrapped up in how close she was to the love of her life and Ted too wrapped up in Maria.

"Is there something on my face?" She asked as she grabbed the nearest napkin and began wiping the area around her mouth.

"Yes, there is something on your face." He said as he continued to stare at her, cracking a slight smile at her trying to look at her reflection through her spoon.

"I don't see anything where is it?"

"You'll see it one day."

"What?"

"Nothing, you got it."

"Are you sure? Because once, Candice let me go all day with a piece of spinach in my teeth, and it wasn't like a little speck either. It was a full blown leaf. I though I was hot stuff that day too. I even approached this hot guy too thinking I was going to make him into a pile of goo with my good looks. Everything was going good until I smiled at him. I never saw someone laugh so hard in my life. Then the worst part was this old man next to him didn't realize it was spinach. He though I didn't have my front tooth so he spent the better part of a hour discussing how he had to go two months without teeth before he got his dentures. So are you sure I got it?"

"Yeah you got it." He said laughing. He loved it when she did that. Rambled on without a care in the world, never realizing how much she was talking. It was when she was really herself. Not caring about John or anyone else.

"Okay. Thanks for telling me unlike Candice. But anyways how are things with you? Before yesterday I hadn't seen you for a while. What have you been up to?"

He shrugged and looked down at his plate and began rearranging his food. He wasn't even hungry. He only invited her out just so he could spend some time with her. What did he say? That the majority of his time had been spent thinking of her. That he couldn't stand walking around looking at her just to see her looking at John. It upset him, made his stomach churn and anger would rise in his chest. John didn't deserve her attention. It should have been him she was pinning after.

"I've just been working on my ring skills, nothing too major." Telling her how he felt wouldn't matter. It wouldn't change things. He wasn't stupid. He didn't think that by telling her he was in love with her would suddenly make her love him back and forget about John. He was a realist. And for him his reality was the fact that she might not get over John anytime soon. It hurt to think about it that way, but it was the truth.

"What about the lucky lady you've been crushing on?"

"Not going so well. I think it may be better to cut my losses and try to move on."

"Teddy!!!! You can't! We do not give up! We fight for what we want. We do it until they want us too. You make them notice you. Make her so that she can't go a minute without thinking of you. "

"But she likes someone else and—"

"Make that someone you!"

"I can try but this is it. I mean I've spent over eight months fretting over this girl and look where it's gotten me. This is the last time I try."

"Okay how about this. We make this our last time for both of us. Maybe it's time for me to move on too. This is my last operation to get John."

"And if we both fail?"

"Then, I don't know. Maybe it will be time to move on and find another guy to focus my attention on."

"Like me?" He said smiling. He could live with those results.

"Oh please Teddy. You don't want me. But I'm pretty sure we can find you another woman. One who isn't too dumb to realize how amazing you are."

He just gave a small smile. Was one last run worth it? What if her plan was successful? It was a horrible thought to think but for his sake he hoped it wasn't. He might go crazy if John ended up with her.

* * *

**_So there's chapter 2. Hope you like it :) _**


	3. Where Are The Boys

**Where Are The Boys?  
**_Chapter 3_

"What exactly are we doing?" Ted was confused. He was supposed to be spending the day with Maria. Just the two of them hanging out. But somehow like always, things had shifted focus on to John and now they were standing outside of what was supposed to be his hotel room.

"I don't know. I was hoping that by the time we got here I would have a plan or at least you would have one. We need a plan. What to do? Oh jeeze what am I doing? I'm going to die. I need my plan. I don't have my plan!" She was pacing back and forth in front of the door while Ted just stared at her from his place against the wall.

"What plan? What are you talking about? And could you please calm down and breathe?"

"Maybe I should just knock. But then what if Michelle's in there? I can't put the moves on if she's in there. Oh my god! What if they're doing it and I interrupt them and he comes to the door with just jeans on or something and I jump him because I can't resist him."

Ted didn't want to tell her that he was sure that wouldn't happen. Not while he was present and not ever if he was sure of it. But before he could utter the beginnings of a reply, Maria froze, then began sprinting down the hall. Halfway down the hall she realized Ted wasn't following her. "Come on." She said in a harsh whisper. Not knowing what else to do Ted quickly jogged over to her. She continued to run until a corner came up and she quickly ducked behind it this time pulling Ted with her.

She stood in a typical spy stance. Back to the wall occasionally poking her head slightly out around the wall to peek down the hall. She kept her stance and occasionally peeking for around ten minutes before Ted became a little worried for her sanity. "What exactly are you doing?" She just looked over at him and let out a huge sigh before sliding down the wall and putting her head in her hands.

"I have no idea."

"Care to explain what all of this was about." He too slid down the wall until they were facing each other.

"I don't know. It's just knowing what his room was and not doing anything about it was killing me. I had to do something, but then I panicked and I though I heard someone about to walk out of the room so I ran. But I just, I just want him to finally notice me. I've been trying so hard and it's just so frustrating. I've been after this for so long that it's embarrassing to even tell people." She let out another sigh and quickly dabbed at her eyes.

"What am I doing? I still have a chance. There'll always be a chance." She stood up and smiled. "Sorry for being a spaz. It's just stupid hormones. You know a certain time of the month they go haywire. I have a plan. A plan that's going to work and then he will be mine so they're nothing to worry about. Let's go Teddy. I need to get out of here before the hormones go off again."

Ted was still stunned. One second she was on the verge of tears and the next she was cheery and bubbly again. Something wasn't adding up. But for the sake of both of their sanity he let it go and stood up. She did want to spend time with him so that was always the positive side of things.

"Piggy back ride Teddy!" She jumped on his back and he began walking down the hall. She was okay for now so he really saw no need to bring the little outburst up.

* * *

"Are you still mad at me?" Candice just looked over at him before turning to look back out the window. They were at a gas station waiting for Jeff to get back from doing whatever he was doing inside the little convenience store. "Candi... You're ignoring me too...Candi...." She looked over at him again and he was giving her his puppy eyes and his bottom lip was poked out. She couldn't help but to crack a smile.

"I'm not mad at you. Never was. Just slightly annoyed."

"I'm sorry. You know I'm more careful than that. It's just I was a little annoyed myself. I mean we hardly get anytime together and then the once time we have a chance to be alone you invite the person we're keeping the secret from the most. I mean I love my brother and all but I love you too and I want to spend time with you."

"I know. How about I talk to Maria and tell her about us and see if she thinks we should tell Jeff yet."

"That sounds like a nice start."

"I would kiss you but you know..."

"Yeah I know." Both were glad the kiss didn't ensue because a split second later Jeff stepped back into the car. "Took you long enough."

"Yeah, yeah just drive."

* * *

Later that night at the arena Candice was walking back to her locker room after her match when she was stopped by Gregory Helms.

"Candice can I talk to you?"

"You already are, but sure what is it you want to talk about?" Candice was momentarily thrown off. Sure she talked to him, he was Matt's best friend. But it wasn't often he wanted to speak to her alone.

"Can we go somewhere a little more private? This isn't something I want the whole roster to hear."

"Sure. I was heading back to my locker room anyway." Now she was a little worried. But she just led to way to her room happy that the other occupant wasn't there. "Now what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"I know about you and Matt. I mean I have for the longest."

"He told you? I swear. Things go in one ear and out the other with him."Candice let out a frustrated growl and began pacing the room. Matt was a huge sofite. She knew it from the beginning but if he couldn't keep it from his best friend how was he supposed to keep it from his brother? Greg just laughed.

"He didn't tell me. I figured it out." She stopped mid stride.

"What? That's not possible. We're so careful. He had to have told you."

"Matt is my best friend. I'm not like Jeff I can see what's in front of me. All of the signs are there. It's not like you guys aren't good at hiding it because you are, it's just if you know what to look for you can see it." Candice began bitting her thumb. How many people like him where there? How many people were going around laughing at them because they knew?

"Oh. Well is that all you wanted to tell me?" She needed to do some serious damage control. She was beginning to wonder was it all worth it. Keeping their love a secret? It couldn't be healthy. It wasn't healthy. The anxiety of someone outing their relationship was beginning to get to put a strain on the relationship too. The petty little fights were beginning to increase.

"No, you see I was talking to Jeff, and he said he was thinking of asking you out sometime soon and I just thought you should know. I mean he's not going to tell Matt because he knows that Matt has some kind of feelings for you. But I just wanted to prepare you for when it happens because I know it's going to be soon and he's not changing his mind." Once again she stopped mid stride. But this time she also stopped mid thought.

"You've got to be kidding me." She said from her frozen stance.

"I wish I was. This is beginning to get way too complicated." Candice sighed and sprawled out on the bench. "I hate to sound so negative, but if the both of you knew about Jeff's feelings, why get together in the first place? Talk about a recipe for disaster."

"I wish it was that simple. I wish that it could have just been a 'bros before hoes' situation but obviously it's not. And it's not even like we simply said oh forget Jeff, lets have a secret affair. We tried. Really hard not to end up in this situation."

"Well it looks like there's only one way to get out of this."

"I wish it wasn't the only one."

* * *

"Teddy, I'm beat." Maria was once again on Ted' back as he carried her back from the arcade. But this time unlike last she was completely slumped over and her arms were dangling limply on his shoulders as were her legs on his waist. They had spend a good four hours in the arcade just goofing off and having a good time. Maria was happy because she had fun. A lot of fun and Ted was happy that he was able to keep her mind of John for four hours.

"I would be beat too if I spent an hour and a half playing DDR."

"It was so fun though. But now I think it's time for me to retire." The truth was she hadn't fully stopped thinking about John. He was still lurking in the back of her mind and she need to sit and think about when she was really going to put the operation into motion."

"I guess to your room then." The journey to her room wasn't very long from the hotel arcade, but halfway into the trip Ted felt Maria go completely limp and he knew she was sleeping.

"Ted!" Hearing his name he slowly turned around to see who was calling him. He saw Randy quickly making his way towards him. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you."

"I was hanging with Maria why?"

"A bunch of us are going out and we wanted to know if you wanted to come with." Ted knew right away that he didn't want to go. He was hoping to squeeze in more time with Maria, but before he could decline Maria spoke up for him.

"He'll go."

"I will?"

"Yes. You will. Go have fun with someone besides my crazy spazy self. Hang out with the guys and do whatever it is guys do."

"So are you coming?"

"Yeah but so is she."

"What?" Now she was fully alert no longer hanging limply on his back.

"You're coming too."

"Ted I told you I was tired. I can't hang out."

"If I go so do you."

"Whatever lets go."Randy said as he shrugged and began leading the way to where the others were gathered.

"You suck." Was all Maria said before biting his shoulder.

"What the hell was that for?"

"Being a idiot."

"So you bite me?" She just smiled and laid her head back on his shoulder in another attempt to have a quick nap. She didn't realize it, but this time there wasn't a single thought of John on her mind.

* * *

_So yes I am aware of the fact that it seems like this story is disgustingly chiche(or it seems so to me). But trust me it's anything but. My plans for it are far from chiche! So yeah. Watch out for the major dramatic turn around chapter 8 or so according to my plans. It includes pickles, wood, cotton candy, oil, bed bugs, and random body parts like eyelids........_

_I'm just kidding that sounds gross...but yeah I'm rambling. But I do suggest listening to the songs of the chapter titles while reading the chapters if you can. It's usually the song I listened to while writing it so you can get the feel of the chapter from it and if you listen to the lyrics you may get a little spoiler for future happenings of the story. So with that said I've decided on a spoiler for the next chapter. The title is Positive Tension-Bloc Party listen to it or read the lyrics and in there you may find what's going to happen. But it's up to you, they are great songs though. ~Mrs. Randista_

_P.S. All of the artists of the songs(chapter titles) are in my profile. _


	4. Positive Tension

_Chapter 4_

**Positive Tension**

Maria sat watching the guys make complete idiots of themselves. When Randy mentioned the guys going out, she figured they were going to a bar or something seeing that it was kind of late at night. What she didn't notice was their total lack of club or bar apparel and that most of them were dressed in sweats. Their definition of going out was sitting in whoever happened to have the best room and playing video games. But it just wasn't any video games. They were playing Smackdown vs. Raw on a Wii to top it off, meaning they were jumping around like idiots.

She looked on at the most recent match up which was Teddy and Cody vs Shad and JTG, but somehow Shad and JTG had gotten around to picking Ted and Cody as their game characters, and was currently beating Ted and Cody with their own characters. Everyone in the background was yelling things out and just being loud in general. Looking around she noticed she was of course the only girl in the room. She had chosen to take up stake against the wall furthest from the tv, mainly because she didn't want to get hit by the guys flailing their arms out. The room was crowded and that gave her reason to believe that a good portion of the roster was in that very room(Randy's she believed).

But she didn't see the one guy she wanted to be there. John was not there and it was killing her. She looked around and of course like she guessed he hadn't just appeared out of nowhere. The guys in the room continued to get louder and she could see the mini fights break out as they horsed around with each other. Needing to escape for a little while she walked out into the hallway softly shutting the door behind her, and thanked goodness for the amount of sound the door blocked out. She now leant against the wall next to the door trying to quell the headache that was building.

"Not your scene?" She didn't hear anyone walk up to her so the voice startled her. It startled her so badly that she jerked her head forward away from the wall only to have it meet the forehead of the mystery speaker and then have it slam back against the wall. The pain had her seeing stars so she was still unable to see the speaker. She tried to move away from her place against the wall but with her clumsiness she tripped over her own feet and felt herself going down to her inevitable meeting with the ground. But the mystery speaker grabbed her with his firm hands and steadied her before she fell. When he was sure she was okay on her own two feet, he let her go and she began brushing invisible dust strands off of herself. "You okay? I didn't mean to startle you." With those words she almost passed out. How could she not have recognized the voice the first time? She turned around and of course John was there.

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

"You sure? You hit your head pretty hard twice." His voice was laced with concern and she could see it on his face. She wanted to squeal. He was worried about her!!!!! His small show of concern certainly made the pounding in her head worth it.

"I've taken harder hits. I mean some odd hours ago Teddy and I were in the arcade and he challenged me to a DDR battle. But this really fat kid was playing before me and he was sweating a river so when I went to play it was wet so I slipped and almost cracked my head open on the metal bar thingy, but Teddy all but tackled me as I was falling so I hit the carpet instead, but I went down pretty hard because Teddy hit me with the force of a baby elephant. Then there was the time Mickie and I were goofing around in the ring before a show, we were only playing dodging each other's moves, but all of a sudden Matt, Candice and Jeff came running out like lunatics and BAM! I took a Mick Kick to the side of the head. I flew backwards hit my head on the turnbuckle, bounced awkwardly out of the ring and hit my head on the steps. I blacked out for about seven minutes. So that little head but was nothing compared to those head shots." She stopped finally realizing she had went onto a rant. She noted the silence and avoided any eye contact with him. She didn't want to see the look in his face. He probably thought she was crazy.

"Your skull must be made of steel. I mean how many concussions have you had?"

"That's a question for another day." She didn't want to go on to another rant and embarrass herself further.

"Okay." There was silence. Awkward silence. She still hadn't even looked in his general direction since she finished her rant. "So I take it being in there with the guys isn't really your scene? I mean big jump from Candice and Jeff." She couldn't believe it. He had a way out. He could have left and went back to what he was doing but he didn't. He decided to stay and make small talk with her. He wanted to talk to her!

"Well I wouldn't say that because I'm very used to being around guys, but they are just a tad bit out of control in there." Short and sweet. She had to remember to keep her answers short and sweet.

"Yeah well it's no DDR I'll tell you that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means what I said. It's not DDR I've seen six year olds master DDR."

"Umm are you forgetting that we both do the same thing for a living?" Maria had a hard time deciding if he was serious. He was talking like she never wrestled a day in her life.

"Doing it in the ring, and playing it are two different things."

"I know. But that wouldn't change the fact that I could still kick your hind parts in it."Maria was very confident she could beat him. Before he could say something back, the hotel door opened and Randy stepped our along with Teddy. Randy spoke first.

"John where have you been. We've all been waiting for you."

"Oh nothing it's just that Maria here wanted to challenge me to a match on the game. She really thinks she can beat me." Randy and John shared a laugh with each other. She didn't see what could possibly be so funny.

"I don't know guys. You didn't see her in the arcade. She's a tad bit of a video game nerd." Ted put his two cents in. He couldn't just stand there while they laughed at her.

"Well why don't we find out how good she is?" John stood there arms folded on his chest in what had to be the cockiest pose Maria ever saw, and it made her salivate.

"Okay. I'm ready let's go." What John and Randy didn't know was that Maria was very much a video game nerd and it wasn't just for DDR. She played them all. Resident Evil, Halo, Street Fighter, Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario Brothers, The Need For Speed Series. She was a junkie and she knew it would be no problem beating him at a game she had long ago mastered.

"Why don't you guys go ahead. I have to talk to Maria really quickly." She looked at Ted with raised eyebrows. What did he possibly have to talk to her about? Randy and John went back inside and Ted turned to her. "Why did you walk out? Are you okay? You have this big red spot on your forehead."

"He touched me!! Not only that but he was so close I could smell him. Plus he held a conversation with me. Jeeze Teddy pinch me I think I died and went to heaven. Ouch! I didn't mean actually pinch me!"

"Someone had to bring you back down to Earth. Let me remind you of one thing. Maria he has a girlfriend, so him being friendly and making conversation with you means nothing in the long run."

"Way to ruin a girls mood. Whatever let's go I have someone's hiney to go and kick." Maria was off and into the room not even checking to see if Ted was behind her.

* * *

Candice sat and waited patiently for Matt to blow up. She knew it was coming. She could feel it. She had just relayed the information she received from Greg to him and he was just standing there. He had yet to do anything but she could almost see the anger building up in him. Unable to just sit there any longer she walked over to where he was and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. For awhile he just stood there stiff and still with his arms at his side. But then he let out a deep sigh and she could feel the tension leaving his body.

"Maybe he'll chicken out and he won't ask me."

"When has Jeff ever chickened out of something?"

"Maybe Greg took it the wrong way. Maybe Jeff didn't exactly say he was going to ask me out."

"Candy, we can think of all the maybes in the world but it still wouldn't change the mess we're in."

He was right. She knew he was right and it only made her feel worse. Because she knew it was her fault. She caused the whole mess. But breaking things off with Matt wasn't and easy option. She couldn't just say goodbye to what they had worked so hard to keep together for the half year they had been together. She loved him and she knew he loved her. But she couldn't just tell Jeff that. It would ruin his and Matt's relationship and it would kill her to know that she would be the cause behind their severed ties.

"Okay so let's say he does ask me out. What if I accept and just make him realize that maybe we aren't right for each other?"

"What like take him on a hell date?"

"No it can't be that extreme. We've been friends too long he knows what I'm like. But I don't know maybe little things to plant in his mind to make him realize I'm not the girl for him."

"I guess. Just don't crush his feelings or anything. He is my little brother and I don't want to see him hurt."

"I know I don't want to see him hurt either. He's my best friend."

"This may work for now but how long Candy? How long until he finds out the truth? Will it be when he gets the invite to our wedding, or when we have our first child?"

"You're acting like I want to keep it a secret. You think I like this? Having to lie to his face? I can't even be with you in public and you think I like it?"

"Jeff is my brother and I love him, but I just think maybe we should stop running from the consequences of our choice to be together. It's not healthy for our relationship. We're fighting all of the time now. We can't keep this a secret until the end of time."

"I know but just not now. If this works out the way I plan on it working out, it will be okay for everyone to know we're a couple.

"I hope it does."

"Me too." It had to. Because Candice knew their relationship was riding on this plan working. The stress of the secret was too much and she knew it would crumble to pieces if held under the stress any longer.

* * *

**AN**_: So finally Chapter 4. Getting it started off was way harder than I expected but I just decided to let the chapter write it's self. I love how it turned out and I remembered why I began this story. Mainly because of the ease of writing the chapters and how having a fluid plot leave a lot of room for changes. So I can't really say when the next chapter will be out, but I will say it will be out before the middle of July, because it's one hundred times easier to write this than it is Always Something. _

_P.S: Smackdown vs. Raw on the Wii is amazingness. Doing the taunts kind of make you feel like you are the wrestler even if that wrestler is a man whose built like a semi and over a foot taller than you(Batista)._


	5. We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands

_Chapter 5  
_**We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands**

This time it was Ted who was posted up against a wall in the far corner of the room. Beer in hand and by himself, it definitely wasn't how he planned on spending the rest of his evening. The guys couldn't believe Maria's skill and just about everyone in the room (except Ted of course) had challenged Maria. For a short amount of time he and Maria had worked as a tag team against Randy and John, but once that was over it was back to everyone trying to finally beat her and him alone on the wall. Randy and John, being the most competitive of the bunch, were trying the hardest and Ted could see how excited Maria was because of this. He wanted to run over, throw her over his shoulder and get her out of the room, but he knew she would never forgive him if he took her away from spending time with John.

Plus he had dealt with his jealous urges long enough to not act on them anymore. He didn't do it when he saw John's eyes linger on her ass and chest whenever Maria jumped around and taunted the guys. He didn't do it when Maria outright ogled John when he striped down to his undershirt because he claimed it was 'too hot' in the room. He didn't do it when John flexed his muscles, caught Maria staring, smiled and flexed some more. And as hard as it was, he didn't run over and rip John's head from his body when he suggested he and Maria play again with a leer and long tight goodbye hug. He just let out a long sigh and walked out the door with Maria on his heels.

"Ted DiBiase Jr., I could kiss the ground you walk on." Maria sauntered up to Ted and latched on to his arm as if she couldn't support her own weight. He just kept on walking. "No, seriously Teddy, that was heaven back then. Do you know how much easier putting my plan into action is going to be now that he actually has a reason to be around me?" She pulled his arm and he stopped walking in fear of dragging her down the hall. "He talked about doing it again sometime!" Ted stared off down the hall not looking in her direction. "Aren't you going to say something?"

"It's late and we're in the hall. I should get you back to your room."

"Jeeze dad. Way to kill my mood. No I take that back. Nothing could kill my mood right now!" Ted just rolled his eyes. "Well someone's acting a little salty all of a sudden."

"Maybe someone doesn't want to hear you go on and on about the same guy constantly. I spend enough time around that man to know that you have serious delusions about him. He's not perfect. Pretty damn far from it if you ask me." He wished he had a video montage of all the nasty, rude, and just plain disgusting things John said and did all day. But even if he did play it to Maria, she's probably fall harder for him because of his 'flaws' or something else ridiculous.

"You only say that because you're one of the guys. I know how he would act around his girlfriend. I hear it all the time from Michelle's mouth….." And suddenly Ted knew he had lost Maria now. She was lost in evil Michelle McCool thoughts as he liked to call them. And suddenly they were walking again. He wasn't sure if Maria knew where she was taking them, but soon they were in front of her room and she was fishing the keys out of her huge purse.

"I'll take this as my cue to leave and you can go on to do whatever it is you do when you're in your room." With that awkward goodbye Ted turned around on his was back in the direction of his room, but was stopped as Maria grabbed a hold of his shirt and hauled him in the room. "What the hell Maria?" He watched as she continued to ignore him and started to dash around the room in what seemed to be an attempt at finding something.

"When you were talking earlier, you said something and it made me realize how stupid I was being. All this time I've been going about it the wrong way. I've been trying to crack the case, but with empty ammo. How much more stupid could I be? I mean all these attempts and it takes a single sentence to make me realize it! I can't believe it. This adds so much more to the plan. Now it might actually have a chance at working. No more going into it blind and hoping they pull their weight.! God Teddy you've been heaven sent into my life for the sole purpose of helping me!" The whole time she was on her rant she was throwing things around the room in search of this mystery object. When she finished she practically threw a book at his head and he just caught it before it collided with his face.

"Maria, I have no idea what you're going on about."

"Don't you see it Teddy? All this time I've been enlisting Jeff as the main man to get the dish on about John, but I was wrong. He's just not cut for the part, you are! You have mutual friends with him and even hang around him, which means you can easily pick up the dish on him for me, if you don't know it already…." She was getting more excited by the moment just thinking of all the possibilities knowing that Ted could go in and get the dirt for her. Ted on the other hand, wasn't so gun ho about the whole thing.

"You want me to snoop around behind Cena to get some news to deliver back to you?"

"That's not just it though. You know how I have that whole plan to steal John? I was thinking it would be easier if you kind of stole Michelle away from him….I know it sounds crazy, but if he found out she was cheating or something he's going to need someone to comfort him and that someone could be me! Don't you see? This is perfect, it benefits both of us, I finally get John and you get some free ass from Michelle out of it too!"

"I can't believe you actually think this absurd plan could work."

"You'll never know until you try!" He didn't want to try. The risk was too great. He wanted to be able to say that he knew for sure that neither John or Michelle would stray. But he saw the looks that John was sending Maria earlier and they were not the looks of a man that was happily in a relationship. Ted knew that all it took was the right situation and the man would go after what he wanted. But then again that might be to his advantage. John may look like he was a slight brush up against the opposite sex from cheating, but that's all it was, cheating. He didn't seem like the type to actually drop everything he had, to be with another. If all John wanted was a drive on the wild side for the excitement of it, then Ted was all for it. As long as he was the one Maria was with in the end nothing else mattered. That way Maria got the taste of John she wanted, John got whatever it was that he wanted, Michelle would still be with her boyfriend and he would have Maria like he wanted.

"God I know I'll regret this, but I swear I'm only agreeing because I want to prove it to you that it won't work." Who was he kidding? He'd do anything for that girl and it scared him.

* * *

As Candice sat across from Jeff in the restaurant she tried her hardest to think of something to say, but nothing took away from the fact that it was awkward. Very awkward. It wasn't supposed to be like that. She had dinner with Jeff all of the time. But knowing that this time it wasn't just them hanging out was enough alone to add a weird tension, but the fact that Jeff decided to take her out to a fancy restaurant and he actually cleaned up and was wearing nice casual clothes that had no rips and fish nets in sight.

She was surprised because he looked kind of hot. And when she thought things like that it only made the situation even more awkward. It was her boyfriends brother for Christ's sake and one of her best friends. She definitely shouldn't be looking at him like that but she couldn't help it.

"So how was your day?" He was even playing the part of the perfect gentleman. She had to laugh, it was seriously ridiculous.

"Jeff, you know this is neither of us. You should know better than anyone that I don't need this type of schmoozing wine and dine mess." He let out a chuckle of his own and looked down in embarrassment.

"I know, I thought the same thing, but everyone was throwing ideas at me and I don't know, I've kind of been working hard at this. I mean I've wanted this for like forever and I wanted it to be perfect. Completely perfect."

"Well I have a better idea of how to make this perfect."

* * *

Maria sat on the bed in her room even more giddy than she was when she first came up with her plan and told it to Jeff and Candice. It was even better than that tine because now, she had a willing participant who wanted to actually help her. Just thinking of the words willing participant and John Cena scheme in the same sentence almost made her turn into goo.

"Could you please get that crazy look off of your face? You're starting to scare me." She was snapped out of her happy place by Ted who she forgot was still in the room with her.

"Sorry, I'm just so happy you agreed to help me." She further proved her point by the squeal she let out.

"Okay. Enough of that mess. We're moving on. Enough talk about John. How about we talk about something else." He was done discussing all things John Cena.

"Something else like what?"

"Like how Jeff and Candice are out on a date right now."

"Aren't you the little gossiper. Why is that so special?"

"Oh come one. You know why it's special! Because it's scandalous!"

"Teddy stop you're starting to scare me by acting like Ken, my gay best friend slash hairdresser. Just spit it out without all the dramatics." Ted's eyes just about bulged out of his head.

"You're telling someone to skip the dramatics? Anyway, I thought it's interesting that she's out on a date with her boyfriends brother." He was expecting Maria to bug out next. With the information he just dropped on her, he was expecting a reaction of Fat Man and Little Boy proportions. One in which she flipped out, ran around the room for a little while. Then called Candice and Matt every name in the book. Then came up with another absurd plan to catch the two of them in their own lie. But all she did was let out a humph.

"You're not dropping any juicy new gossip on me Teddy. What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't know that Candice and Matt were going out?" Ted just sat dumbfounded scratching his head. "I already knew about them. I just pretend I don't because it makes Candice feel better if she thinks she's the perfect secret lover. I don't think many people don't know about them. We just all let them think we don't know. Isn't that what you did too? Acted like you didn't know?"

"Yeah I did. But you mean most of the locker room knows? And Jeff doesn't?" He couldn't wrap his head around it. He only found out because one night he had the unfortunate experience of having a room next to theirs and heard all the proof he needed.

"I have no idea if Jeff knows or not. I can't see how he wouldn't know. But whatever he's doing, it's with purpose."

* * *

What Candice had in mind was a small bar that had an open mic night and karaoke night all in one. She didn't know how they did it, but the deep poetry mixed with the horrible karaoke mixed into a wonderful blend of fun. A whole lot of fun. Especially when Jeff went up and started singing Pearl Jam songs in his best Eddie Vedder impersonation. It was truly a sight to see.

But now their little _date_ was over and she was slammed with the reality that she did nothing to turn the date wrong. She had been enjoying herself so much that it took them walking back to the hotel for her to remember how it was supposed to turn out.

When Jeff finally got over his nerves after the restaurant mishap she realized that she liked hanging out with him again. They hadn't spent time like that together in a long time and it felt good to have her best friend back they way it was before all of the complicated Matt stuff came into the picture.

"Candice I'll have to say I had a very nice night. It was fun. Thanks for giving me a chance and sticking around after that stupid restaurant move." She didn't even realize they were at her room until he stopped walking and turned to talk to her.

"I had fun too. It was nice."

"So you wouldn't mind doing it again?" She should have saw it coming, it would have been too good to be true for him to just give up and let her go after only one date. She knew she wasn't lucky enough to be able to get out of such a huge problem. She should have just listened to Matt and just told Jeff about them. She wanted to tell him no, but another small part of her was asking what would the harm be in another of his so called _dates_. They didn't have the vibe of a date. It felt more like they were hanging out like they used to. But Matt would bite her head off and say she was leading him on to eventual heartbreak. Which she kind of would be if she played him like that.

"Jeeeeeeffffffffff I-" Before she could even begin to turn him down he kissed her. To say she was surprised would have been and understatement. It started of just a gentle peck, but when he realized she wasn't pushing him away or slapping him, he pushed on harder and she could hardly think. She felt his tongue brush her bottom lip once. Then twice, and she tried to resist, but the third time was the charm. If her mind was gone when it was just and innocent kiss, it had to be mush now that his tongue was in the equation. Never had she felt so much from just a simple kiss. Soon, the lack of air became apparent and he pulled back. They both began to take in harsh breaths and she could slowly feel her brain functions returning to normal. She could see it in his eyes that it was talking him just as much as it was taking her not to say fuck it and pull him in her room, but she didn't know why he was holding back.

"I'll see you after the show on Monday so we can go out again." With those last parting words he leant in for another kiss. This one a quick peck. Then backed away shaking his head with a smile. And Candice knew she was in deep shit.

She sat staring at the door anxious for it all to be over. Candice knew Jeff was going to go back to the room he shared with Matt and drop every single juicy detail of their date. She knew that Matt would act the part of the encouraging brother, but when enough time had passed, he would flee his room to come and yell at her.

So she sat waiting for him to knock on the door to get it all over with. Questioning the whole time why God couldn't be on her side for at least two seconds. When the knock finally came after who knows how long she got up and prepared her self for what was about to come.

On the other side of the door. Matt looked the perfect mixed of pissed off and annoyed. His dark eyes were a shade darker than usual and his curly hair was out of it's usual ponytail and hung loose around his face. She felt even more worse for thinking about how hot he looked at the moment.

No greeting were exchanged. He shoved past her and began pacing in her room. She went back to her place on her bed and began picking at her nails waiting for him to start lecturing her on all she did and always does wrong when it came to Jeff.

"I don't get it really. I seriously don't understand why you have to constantly make things more complicated then they need to be. This could have been solved a long time ago, but for some strange reason you like to drag it out. Well guess what. That little smooch, that wasn't a final goodbye I'm over you kiss. Do you know how hard it is to have to listen to your brother constantly telling you about how hot his kiss with your girlfriend and not be able to say anything is?" She just sighed and looked up at him. Candice had no idea what to say. She was just happy he was mad about the experience and not that fact that she kissed him back.

"I'm sorry, Matt. You act like I go around everyday planning a new way to put Jeff through the ringer. I don't want to hurt him just as much as you don't. He kissed me. I was getting ready to turn him down and finally break it to him that no we can't go out on dates, and the next thing I know he's kissing me and then he's gone talking about next time. I didn't kiss him. I didn't encourage him to kiss me. So I don't get why it's always my fault." They weren't yelling yet so she had hope that things would turn out alright.

"Okay you didn't start the kiss, but you didn't end it either. What the hell Candice? You were supposed to push him off as soon as it started. You promised me that all it was going to take was this one time to get him to realize you're not the one for him and it didn't happen. If anything he thinks you guys are like soul mates now. I don't know what you wanted from this whole ordeal, but I can tell you what I don't want. I don't want to share my girlfriend with my brother while she thinks it's okay. I can't do it."

"Who said anything about sharing? I just need a little more time to get him-"

"No Candice, you don't need time. You need to just get it over and done with. If it was up to me it would have been done. But you seem to like the games. The only reason I don't go and do it is because you begged me not to and said you wanted to because he's your best friend and you would think of a way to do it. This isn't a way to do it. It's more of a way to have your cake and eat it too." She felt it coming. She didn't even have to ask anything because she could already feel where he was going with the conversation, but she had to do it anyway.

"So what now Matt? You don't like my approach, so what do you think should be done?"

"I don't care how you tell him. All I know is that I can't be with you, while you go creeping around with my brother behind my back. I can't watch him be with you in public while I've had to go around in secret for the past year and a half. So until you finally tell him about us, maybe there shouldn't be an us. Hell, maybe then you'll never have to tell him."

"So that's it? Your calling it quits now?"

"For now, yeah. Tell Jeff about us, and maybe it might change. I love you Candice. So much. But I really can't do it." He looked at her for a long moment and then walked out the door.

Even though she was expecting something along the lines of a breakup it still didn't prepare her for it. She didn't understand how he could lose faith in her so quickly. All she had been working for so they could actually be together and not have to worry about someone seeing them and it was all gone. Well just until she told Jeff, but how did she know that Matt wasn't just bluffing and wouldn't get back with her even after she told. It hurt just to know that he could give everything they had up just like that.

She wiped away the tears she didn't even know had fallen and threw herself back on to the bed. She never expected a night that was going so well to end so bad.

* * *

Two weeks later Ted was happy with how things were going. After agreeing to help Maria in her plan he was blessed with being able to spend more time with her. A lot more time. Sure the bulk of it was spent dishing out annoying things about John Cena, but when he wasn't the main focus they had a lot of fun together. He just wished whatever was going to happen with Cena would be over so he could finally move in.

He sat in Randy's locker room listening to a bunch of the guys talking about something that really wasn't of any concern to him. He had been in on the conversation for a while, but it took a turn for the worse so he decided to stay out of it. His mind wasn't really even in the room, until he felt someone sit down next to him on the bench. He looked over and saw it was John.

"So Ted, how's everything with you?"

"Fine, but since when did you care?" It was safe to say that he was suspicious of why John was there talking to him.

"You're right I don't." He laughed and shook his head. "I came over here because I wanted to know how things are between Maria and you." Now Ted was even more suspicious.

"What do you mean?"

"Well are you guys just friends, or is she your girl?"

"We're friends, but what's it to you?" He hoped John wasn't inquiring about Maria for the reasons he though. When he said he hoped the whole thing with John would be over already, he didn't mean this soon. He wasn't ready yet.

"What's it to me? Have you seen that girl? She's one seriously piece of hot ass. And I know she's been feeling my vibe for a while now, so I though I'd check her out."

"What you and Michelle not together anymore?" He had been talking to the girl more just to let Maria think he was going along with her plan, but she didn't tell him anything about not being with John anymore.

"No, we're still together. But no one said I couldn't have friends."

* * *

When Ted finally got back to the hotel he all but ran to Maria's room to tell her about the conversation with John. He had planned on letting her see for herself that John only wanted her as someone to cheat on Michelle with, but he couldn't risk that. He knew how she acted around John and he didn't know if she could realize how wrong that arrange was if he was around.

"Hey Teddy, any new delicious things to tell me tonight?"

"Actually yeah. Sit down, I think this may be a little too much to take while standing." She let out a squeal and bounced over to her bed.

"Okay tell me now I'm ready."

"So I was talking to John today-" She squealed again. "And he was asking about you." This time her squeal was completed with a couple of jumps around the bed.

"This is awesome Teddy! He finally notices me! Now all I have to do is get him to notice my super hot bod. Maybe I should pull the trench coat and lingerie move. Act like I need help with something in my room and let the coat accidentally slip open. Or I could constantly bump into him and purposefully rub against him while our bodies are against each other. Or I could walk around with a folder full of a whole bunch of sexy pictures of me and accidentally leave it in his locker room!"

"Maria, I wasn't done."

"Oh sorry Teddy continue." She sat back down on the bed and gave him her full attention.

"He was asking about you, but he said he just wants to be _friends_."

"Teddy that's prefect. It's the whole purpose of Operation Make John Realize How Beautiful I Am Compared to That Troll Michelle. We start off as friends and then move on to something more. It's prefect and it's all falling into place. A couple of weeks with me and he'll be saying Michelle who!"

"I'm still not done Maria."

"Oh okay sorry. That was the last time I swear."

"The whole thing is he has no intentions of breaking up with Michelle. He just wants to use you. He wants you to be his mistress. Can you believe that?"

"I can believe it and I'll take it."

"You wouldn't mind being the girl he's cheating with his girlfriend with?"

"Teddy, in a perfect world I'd care. I'd slap him and tell him off for trying to steal my virtue and would have remained a virgin until marriage and would have found the perfect husband and have perfect kids. But this isn't that world. My virtue is gone, it's pretty damn hard to find the perfect guy when you're constantly on the road. John's who I want. So maybe I'll relationship may have to start with me being the other woman. But if that's what it takes to become the only woman, I'll just have to live with it and leave that part out when I talk to our grandchildren."

Ted couldn't believe what he just heard. He thought that Maria would be appalled with the thought of being John's girl on the side, but it seemed she didn't care at all. She thought she would think higher of her self than to just be John's other woman. But obviously he was wrong. And that changed a lot of things for him. Because if she was okay with it, he obviously lost the battle, because now John was definitely in the picture and something told him that would mean he would be out it.

* * *

**AN: So here it is. Chappie five finally. I fought for it for the longest but it's finally out in large part due to wAcKiEjAcKiE826 for getting me off my ass and actually writing this. So now actual plot comes into the story and the good juicy parts are comming! Please review and tell me what you think of the lates change of events and what you think will happen in the future. I'd love the feedback, it helps me write faster! Thank you!**


	6. Bad Romance

Chapter 6

**Bad Romance**

Maria sat in her locker room not liking what she was seeing. First things first if it was up to her, she would have been everywhere but her own locker room. Especially since Michelle McCool never went anywhere and that meant she had to stare at her face constantly while she went on and on to whoever she was talking to. It upset her even more when she thought about how much time John spent in that face. But that was also her motivation, because he wanted to spend time with her, and coming into the locker room she shared with his girlfriend was the perfect excuse.

But sadly for Maria things didn't work like that. It just so happened that the exact moment all her dreams were falling into place and she was finally getting somewhere with the man of her dreams and love of her life, was the same exact time that her best friends lives began to fall apart.

Candice Michelle also known as one of Maria's best friends had just about shut her out of her life. Maria just didn't get it. She understood how broken and torn Candice had to be, she knew about the break up. But Candice wasn't giving her any insight into her feelings. She probably wouldn't have told Maria about the break up if Maria hadn't told her she already knew of the relationship in the first place. But she wasn't spilling any other beans.

Especially not why she didn't really seem to give two shits that she and Matt were no longer a couple and she was pretty fine prancing around with Jeff now. She thought it was kind of gross tossing one brother aside to go after the other, but she sure wasn't one to judge others.

With the newly solidified Jandice power duo taking over, Maria wasn't the only person who was out of it with her best friends. Matt had lost a girlfriend and he was taking it hard. She knew that he saw the break up as a way to finally get Candice to admit that she had to tell Jeff soon and he had expected the whole ordeal to be over and done with in less than three days. But it had been more like three weeks and instead of her telling Jeff, he got her going out with Jeff instead. And the whole time he had to go along and be the perfect supportive brother encouraging Jeff and listening to every excruciatingly painful detail. It was killing him, and Maria was the one who saw it because it was her locker room he ran to when he wanted to get away from them.

Normally she didn't mind that. Matt was a cool chill person and she had already had a couple of deep talks with him about the whole Jeff and Candice situation. But what made it worse was when Jeff and Candice came in and decided they wanted to actually spend time with Maria. She wasn't all that thrilled with the new Heidi and Spencer Pratt. They knew Matt wanted to be away from them and they still came and rubbed their relationship in his face.

So she had to play the intermediary and make sure all hell didn't break loose between the three of them and it was sickening. Because they were all supposed to be friends. Hell Matt and Jeff brothers for pete's sake, but here they were acting faker than all of the diva's boobs trying to play nice with each other.

But even with all of that drama going on in the room, it wasn't the real reason why she was disgusted with the scene in front of here. If it wasn't enough watching Heidi and Spencer. She had to watch Kourtney Kardashian and Scott too. Only John was obviously Kourtney having to deal with Scott(Michelle's) crazy tendencies. John and Michelle sat across the room whispering to each other like two kids on the playground and it irritated her. Every time she herd Michelle's high pitched giggle, which was more like a bird squawk, she wanted to claw her eyes out.

It certainly didn't help that the whole time John was over there with Michelle, his eyes were locked on Maria's. It made her mad that he so obviously wanted her but couldn't do anything about it because they could never find any time alone to talk with each other. Or do more than talk either one was fine with her.

Luckily for Maria, she caught her break when Michelle had to leave to prepare for a match. With Michelle gone, there was no doubt that John was staring at her. All it took was a couple of pointed glares for Matt, Candice and Jeff to realize they suddenly had to leave too. And that's when her moment came. She was all alone with John Cena. The man of her dreams and there was nothing standing in the way of it now. She didn't even know what to do or say.

* * *

Candice didn't know how things got to be the way they were. Three weeks ago, she was happily in a relationship with a man she loved with all her heart and loving life. But now everything was so different. Never in her life had she felt so torn. It should have been simple. After Matt had broken up with her, she should have ran to Jeff and told him about her and Matt and got her man back. But she didn't.

But she had planned on doing it the next day. Prepared for it too. But Jeff was just so insistent about showing her things and taking her places that before she knew it she was doubting telling him.. Because he made going out fun again for her. It wasn't a chore. Everything with him was vibrant and just mind blowing. As much as her break up with Matt hurt, and it did hurt something serious, Jeff made her forget all about it.

"So I was thinking that maybe tonight we could go out to that club everyone's been talking about. I heard a lot of the guys are heading out to it tonight." Jeff looked over at her waiting for her reply.

"I'll think I'll pass tonight. But you go ahead with them. Have fun."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I have things to take care of anyway."

* * *

"You gonna stay all the way over there? Why don't you come closer so we can actually talk to each other?" When those words came out of John's mouth Maria almost fainted. But it didn't take long to recover. Two seconds later she was taking slow deliberate steps over to John. An outsider looking in may have thought it was part of her ploy to seem sexy around him but the truth was she was doing it so she didn't slip up and run over and jump in his lap.

Once she was securely next to John she took in a couple of slow breaths and inhaled a couple of deep breaths to fully take in his scent.

"So, we never got back together for that rematch you promised me." He was so close that she had no idea what to do. She wanted to fall into him and just breath in his scent for the rest of her life. Or maybe kidnap him and lock him away as a sex slave. That was a better alternative because then he's be there whenever she wanted him. But he couldn't be locked up at all times. She would give him free time to hit up the gym because he really needed to keep that sexy body in shape. She looked back up at his face and realized that he was expectantly waiting for an answer.

"Oh well, I'm down for any time. It won't take much to repeatedly kick your ass over and over again."

"What makes you so sure that it's my ass that's going to get kicked?" He leaned in closer to her when he said this and she could feel his breath ghosting along her neck. They were sitting next to each other but she was constantly looking away from him, because she knew if she looked at him, she'd be gone and all over him. She could only resist the temptation for so long.

"I think the ten times I kicked it before make good proof of whose ass is going to get kicked. I doubt you improved your skills since then. Even if you did, I'd still be able to kick your ass half way into Sunday. I am the master. I know your moves better than you do. I could beat you with my eyes closed. I could kick your ass with a hand tied behind me back. I could rip you a new one hopping on one foot while singing everyone's entrance themes and hopping laps around you." He started dying of laughter and she wanted to shoot herself. She had gone and ruined the moment with her stupid rambling again.

"What if I told you I let you beat me all of those times?"

"There's no reason to defend your masculinity." She could see the proof very well and clear. "Why would you let me beat you? If I can kick someone's ass in a game, I'm gonna do it not hold back."

"What if I did it because I knew it would get me more alone time with you?" And just like that, the mood was back. He was close again and this time it wasn't just his breath ghosting over her neck. His lips were just centimeters away and she wished he would just hurry up and do something. But it seemed she was going to have to make the first big move. She turned to look at him and almost melted on the spot. His eyes were boring into her and they looked like liquid sex. She could literally see the want and desire in them and she knew hers were probably a mirror image. But soon his eyes shifted and they were staring intently at her lips and she knew what he was thinking.

"If that was your game plan, then I'd have to give you your kudos because it was damn smart." Her voice came out as a harsh whisper afraid that anything louder would break the moment. His gaze never left her lips and she felt the gravity and electricity between them pulling them in closer. And just like that, there was no distance between them. Their lips softly collided and Maria swore at that moment she had died and gone to heaven. No it was too good for even heaven. Quickly her arms were around his neck locking him in place, daring him to pull back. But that wasn't needed because one of his hands was pressed just as firmly behind her head.

Maria could feel it building up, the moment where things started to get hot and heavy. But before they could get the kiss off the ground from innocent school kids style the door busted open and instantly they both pulled away from each other. At the same instance they pulled away they both jumped back to put comfortable distance between them.

She wanted to kill the person who came in the room but she had to calm herself down before she gave away what they had been doing with her flushed face. She was also praying that if the person was Michelle that she was as stupid as she acted sometimes and hadn't seen anything and would believe whatever lie they would tell to explain their positions.

"There's my favorite girl. I've been looking all over for you." The voice was all she needed. She was going to kill Ted Dibiase in a slow painful death.

When she looked up she saw his smug face. He knew exactly what he had did and he was loving every second of it. She looked over at John and saw that he looked confused, but relieved. Probably thankful it was only Teddy and not someone else like Michelle.

"I think that's my cue to leave now." John got up and stretched and Maria really wanted to kill Ted when she saw his grin widen. "I'll talk to you later though, so we can work on that rematch." He gave her one last leg weakening smile and then he was out of the door.

"God Ted! Can you have a worse sense of timing?" She sank back into the couch with her head in her hands. Trying to forever remember the feeling of John's lips on hers. They were so soft and plush. Like kissing clouds. Not just any clouds, but the big fat fluffy ones on a nice summer day. No they were more like a nice big fat juicy rain cloud. Moist and fluffy at the same time. No maybe winter storm clouds. Those clouds weren't overly wet like rain clouds were.

"Oh please you should be thanking me. Michelle's match just ended. Would you have rather she walked in here with you tow half naked going at it?" He walked over and took John's recently vacated spot next to Maria.

"Actually I wouldn't have minded that at all." She hated to see herself as a home wrecker, but in this case she really didn't care. Technically John was Maria's first. Michelle just luckily swooped down and stole him first. It was annoying and pissed Maria off that she did that. All of her anger towards Michelle was what usually pushed about seventy percent of her evil revenge plans. The other thirty was driven by John's god like looks. So breaking them up had a nice ring to it in her opinion.

"I can't even say anything to that. Just be glad I saved your asses this time. But I'm not the watch boy. If you guys keep acting so carelessly she's going to find out, and I hate to say it, but something tells me John isn't just going to throw away his relationship for some quick fling with you." He hated being so harsh to her, but he'd resort to any means necessary if it mean he had one up over John, even if it mean playing a little dirty.

* * *

Candice took in a deep breath as she knocked on Jeff's room door. She had to do this. She owed it to the both of them. She felt like the ultimate slut of all sorts and it was eating away at her that she had done something as dirty as she had without talking to anyone about it.

The door opened and she saw Matt boring holes into her skull with his eyes. Like he did everyday. No matter how many times she had to deal with it, it didn't make it any better.

"Jeff's not here sorry." And with that said he began to shut the door on her. But she quickly caught it with her hand stopping him from closing it.

"I'm not here to talk to Jeff. I want to talk to you." Matt sat there and debated if he should let her in or not. He didn't want to have to deal with the drama if it all. If he could just forget about it all he would have, but for him life didn't work that way. And if he continued to let it go he knew one day it was going to explode out of him in the worst possible way. So he sighed, opened the door, and let her in.

"So what are we talking about?" Candice sighed. She could already tell this was going to be a long and hard conversation. Matt had already put up his defensive walls and that meant it was going to be impossible to get through to him.

"Matt….I really wish it wasn't like this. You don't know how much I wish I could have just listen to you and taken you advice so we wouldn't be in this position right now. It would have been so much easier that way." He let out a little chuckle and that cemented the fact that he was beyond pissed.

"Candice, I can't believe you're copping out like this."

"What are you talking about?" He laughed again.

"Where we're at right now. It's not because we dated for almost two years without telling Jeff. You know what, no, I'll go ahead and give you that. Let's just say that part of it was due to that fact. Truth of the matter is, that doesn't really change the facts of the situation we're in right now. You could have went on ten million dates with Jeff. Would I have stood for it, no, but it still wouldn't have put us here." To say she was confused would have been and understatement. He wasn't making any sense.

"Matt, I'm not following you."

"So I'm a little pissed that you went out on a date with Jeff. So what? I knew that was going down already. But what I didn't know was that you were already feeling something for him. Like I said, you could have went on ten million dates with him and I would have been annoyed, but the fact that we're not together and your with him, that's what really pisses me off.

"I'm the one that has to sit around and act like everything's fine when it's not. We were together almost two years Candy, and you just threw it our the window to be with him and there's nothing I can do about it. All I can think about is how long were you going around with these feelings for him and how much of an idiot I am. Some guy swooped in and stole my girl and I can't do shit about it because that guy's my brother and my girl fuckin wants it."

"It's not like I've been running around wanting Jeff this whole time. You don't understand. I was done with it. I was going to tell him that next day. But then I don't know. The kiss threw me off and then I wasn't even sure if you were going to take me back. I love you Matt. But with Jeff I just don't know. I love him too. At first I thought it was just a brotherly love, but now I really don't know. Everything's so confusing. But what I do know is that I'm so sorry. I wish I could be able to come here and tell you I made a huge mistake and beg you to be with me again, but I really just don't know." Matt sighed and flopped back down onto his bed. She could see the beginnings of tears in his eyes but she knew he wouldn't let them fall while she was around.

"I was only bluffing. I broke up with you to push you into telling Jeff about us but I guess that backfired on me." Candice let out a sigh of her own and sat next to him on the bed. She then leaned in and laid her head in the crook of his neck and wrapped her arms around him. Matt had to be one of the most comfortable people she ever meet. At times he was better than a bed. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight. "You don't know how much I wish it was anybody but him." He said it so low Candice almost didn't catch it.

"You don't know how much I wish it wasn't anybody at all." She lifted her head up to look at him. But it was his turn to rest his head on her shoulder. But that wasn't all he had in mind. She quickly felt slow deliberate kisses placed on her neck.

"Matt, stop." She gave him a weak pathetic push away from her but it didn't move him or thwart his actions.

"Stop what?" The words were said onto her neck and punctuated with a light nip at her neck that had her seriously loosing her mind.

"Seriously Matt, this isn't going to help anything." He was working his way up her neck to across her jaw until he reached her ear.

"You never know." This time the words were whispered directly into her ear and punctuated with a lick to her outer shell and made her whole body shake. He knew just what buttons to push to make her all hot and bothered.

That was all it took before she grabbed his head and smashed their mouths together. It was hard to believe something that started off so sweet could turn into what they were doing. All of the pent up emotions they were feeling were unleashed into the kiss. Their teeth clashed together at times as the kiss was rough. Her hands quickly went from his head to his chest as she reacquainted herself with it.

Quickly the clothes began to fly off and Candice knew they were reaching a point of no return, but even with her thought clear about how wrong everything was, it didn't stop her body from going through the motions.

She didn't stop him when she felt his hands underneath her shirt. In fact she lifted her arms up as he removed her shirt, and then she helped him with his own shirt. She still didn't stop him when she felt her bra being unhooked and the straps slid off her shoulders. She responded by unbuckling his belt at watching as his baggy pants fell to reveal a body she had seen countless times and still couldn't get enough from.

She knew she should have stopped him when she felt his hands and lips trailing continuously lower on her body. But she didn't know what would have been the bigger sin. Having sex with her ex-boyfriend who just so happened to be her current boyfriend's brother, or stopping him, from giving her pleasure only he seemed to know how to give. All it took was three tantalizingly slow licks from his tongue for Candice to get her answer. She threaded her fingers in his hair, pushed his face in deeper and closed her eyes in preparation for the pleasure she knew he was about to give her. She felt him smile against her, knowing he had her where he wanted, and even that didn't change her mind. She was too far gone at that point.

* * *

Maria sat on her bed with a book in her hand. She wasn't afraid that many of her plans came from Harlequin romances. They gave her inspiration. If those women could turn crabby men, unforgiving exes, and total strangers into the perfect husbands it gave her hope and inspiration for her and John.

She had just gotten to the point where Suzanne was about to open her paternity test to see if the dangerous and mysterious Brad was the baby's father, or calm level headed Steve when her cell phone rang. She looked over to where it was on the night stand and saw that it was a number she didn't recognize. Her gaze went back to the book, then back over to the phone. After one last long stare down she decided to answer the phone.

"I swear somebody better have died or I better have won a seriously big gift."

"Is this a bad time?" And just like that all thoughts of the book in her hand were gone.

"Oh John I'm sorry. It was nothing, this is a perfect time." She wanted to kick her self in the face.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah it's fine." They then sat there in an awkward silence for about a minute.

"Oh well, I was just calling to see what you were doing. I'm bored out of my mind and it seems as though everyone has something to do tonight except me." She let out a silent squeal at the thought that he picked her as a means of entertainment. So what if it was because everyone else was doing something. He still went through the trouble to get her number to call her. That was enough for her.

"I'm just sitting here catching up on some reading."

"Awww shit, am I interrupting you? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called you."

"No, no trust me it's nothing that can't wait" was her response as she quickly threw the book to the other side of the room, where it hit the wall with a loud bang.

"Well would you be up for doing something? I mean I know it's kind of late and very last minute and would completely understand if you said no…"

"No!, I mean yes! I am up for doing something! Anything you like!" She didn't know weather she should slap her head or not for adding that last part on. It would either come off as desperate or slutty. It was safe to say, she would rather it be slutty than desperate.

"Oh good. I'll come over to your room in a bit and we can decide what to do from there."

"Sounds perfect"

"Okay see you soon" Maria, quickly hung up the phone and stood on top of her bed and began to do a victory dance. She was so exicted that she never realized John didn't need to ask for her room number.

* * *

**_AN: _**_So it's been a disgustingly long time since I've updated. The worst part is this chapter has been done for over three months, I literally added maybe a hundred and fifty words into it. First semester of college = kicked my ass. I thought it'd be okay, but time management isn't my best forte, and spending weekends doing nothing but recovering from the bullshit the professors spewed all week wasn't the best way to deal. but it's all irrelevant now. Because I have six weeks until I go back there and will spend most of that time writing, because it is what I love and I do miss it. Sorry for the wait. Hope you liked it and thank you for still sticking with this story! _


	7. Strawberry Swisher Pt1

**Chapter 7  
**_Strawberry Swisher Pt.1 _

Never in a million years would Candice have thought that her trip to Matt's room to talk would have ended with them having sex. But the truth was, she was currently laid out on Matt's chest trying her hardest to dig up some type of regret for what she had done, but the truth was she couldn't muster any up. As screwed up as it was, she didn't regret sleeping with her ex-boyfriend all the while cheating on her current boyfriend who was the brother to her ex-boyfriend. All she could think of was how great the sex was and how much she missed him.

She was seriously screwed up in the head, she knew it. But she wished that she could just look into her heart or mind and pick which brother she loved more and be with him. But it wasn't that simple. Even if she did know who she wanted to be with, it still left one of them with a broken heart.

If her life were a movie, instead of fighting over her or choosing between them, they would all realize that things were just too crazy and she would back off and settle down with some guy in her life that she hadn't paid much attention to. Or she would be the selfless angel and tell them that their relationship as brothers was worth more than any of their romantic relationships and would try to find who she really was without a man. And then some time later, she would realize who she really loved just as he moved on and the other brother would help her get back the man she loved.

But sadly her life wasn't some Hollywood romantic comedy. Instead it was her crazy reality. Her crazy screwed up unbelievable reality.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a sharp bang on the door. She looked up at Matt, but he was still completely out of it. She sat quiet and still hoping that whoever was at the door at such a godforsaken hour would leave, but it came again this time incessantly. She began to roughly shake Matt.

"Ungrh." She had no idea what the noise was supposed to mean, but she just shook him harder.

"Matt, someone's at the door." She whispered it directly into his ear and continued to shake him.

"Go open it then." He rolled over to his other side in an attempt to get away from her rough shaking.

"What the hell? I can't open the door naked, to your room. What if it's Maria, oh God, it's Jeff. He knows! How the hell does he know?" Candice said in a rough whisper and instantly shot up and began picking up her clothes and putting them on as fast as she could.

Matt groggily sat up on the bed and groped around in the floor for his boxers. When he found them he put them on and walked over to Candice. "It's probably nothing, if it is Jeff; he doesn't know there is no way in hell that he could know. Now go hide in the bathroom." He then walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. "Shit it is Jeff. Go get your ass in the bathroom!" Candice didn't need to be told twice and she made a beeline for the bathroom and quickly shut the door behind her. He heart felt as if it was trying to beat right out of her chest.

She should have known that she couldn't get away with sleeping with Matt again. She paced the bathroom for a couple of seconds before she realize that Matt and Jeff were out there and she had no clue what they were talking about. So she quickly glued her ear to the door and tried her best to listen in on their conversation. She couldn't hear it all because they were talking low and it was all muffled.

"…You…here…my room…" That sounded like Matt.

"I…..favorite….room." She guessed that was Jeff but from the bits she was getting the conversation didn't seem to make much sense. She heard a large crash and a thud followed by laughter.

"…Telll me …..drunk?" Matt again.

"Possibly…okay…..go back…see….like this." Only hearing part of the conversation was only making her angrier because she still had no clue what they were talking about and it made her imagination run wild. So Candice just plopped down on the edge of the tub waiting for Matt to come in and tell her when the coast was clear for her to leave.

That time came around fifteen minutes later. He entered the bathroom and quietly shut the door. Candice looked up at him and he smiled at her.

"Why are you grinning?" She whispered it again still unsure if the coast was clear for them.

"I just can't believe this shit." He walked over to the toilet, put the lid down and sat down with his head in his hands.

"What happened, why was he here?" Her leg began to jiggle nervously. She hated to admit it to herself, but for a while, she was sure that Matt would tell Jeff what had happened just to spite him and one up him. It wasn't likely, but she didn't put it past him completely, and that scared her, the thought that because of her, they wouldn't be as close as they once were. She felt like a home wrecker.

"He's drunk. That's why he's here. He passed out on the arm chair after I made him drink two bottles of water." Candice finally exhaled the breath she didn't know she had been holding. "He didn't want you to see him while he's so far gone. So he asked if he could crash here." Candice rested her back against the wall and gave Matt a smile of her own. She understood what Matt meant when he said that he couldn't believe what kind of night they had gotten themselves in to.

"So he's out there sleeping? I mean I appreciate his concern about me seeing him, but I've seen Jeff drunk plenty of times. But I guess better he be here, than to have gone back to our room and have seen I wasn't there." She could see Matt's demeanor change from relaxed to stiff in seconds.

"He's like really bad. He could barely stand and was just a mess. Worst I've ever seen him. But I guess we should get you out of here. It won't take much because he's out cold." Matt stood up and walked over to the door and was out of it before she could even respond to what he said.

When they walked back out to the room Candice looked over to the arm chair where Jeff was sprawled out on. He wasn't in it properly. He was laid out across it with one leg across the back of the chair and one in the front on the floor. All Candice could think was how cute he looked.

She quickly went around the room and started picking up the pieces of clothing that she had forgotten in her rush to the bathroom. When she was sure she had everything she turned to see where Matt was but he simply walked over to the door.

Regret and nervousness quickly settled deep in her stomach. She wasn't prepared for whatever talk they were going to have to have about what they did and what it meant.

It was silent on the walk back to her room, but once they reached the door she turned around to prepare for whatever was about to happen. They were silent and she looked at anything but him. She had to say something the silence was killing her. Especially because he was leaned up against the wall with an unreadable expression on his face staring at her.

"Well Matt, I-" Before she could even get it out, he stopped her.

"Candice, we can talk about this some other time. Just go get some sleep; I know you don't want to do this now." He looked at her, and the look said everything that he didn't. The look said how betrayed and hurt he was. It told her how much he missed her, and most of all it told her how much he still loved her. It made her heart clinch and it took everything inside of her not to drag him in to her room for another round. Instead she leaned up and kissed him and instantly his arms were around her. The kiss didn't last long. It was simple and sweet and when it was over she whispered a quiet goodnight, and practically ran into her room. She hated feeling so confused about her life and so much like a slut.

* * *

The next morning when Maria woke up, she had a large grin on her face. She had hardly been able to sleep from the pure excitement and euphoria coursing through her veins after spending time with John.

She couldn't believe how well 'Make John See How Beautiful I Am Compared to the Troll Michelle' was working. She never would have guessed things would move as quickly as they had. But she was glad for it, because it meant that finally John would be free from the grips of the evil Michelle.

Still laid out in her bed even though it was close to eleven in the morning, Maria closed her eyes and once again relived the events from the previous night.

_Last Night _

_Maria ran around her room doing some last minute surface cleaning making sure everything was in order. The last thing she wanted was for John to come in and see random clothes strewn around and think she was a pig. Or see her comfort over cute panties and think that she wore granny panties all of the time. It was just sometimes when her skin became irritated with lace. And they were comfy! _

_She nearly jumped out of her skin when there was a knock on her door. She quickly gave her self and the room a once over to make sure everything was in order and went over to answer the door. _

_When she opened the door she made sure that her grin was a friendly one and not a creepy one that gave away how excited she was to see him. They greeted each other and she stepped aside so he could enter her room. He walked in and took at seat on her bed and she tried not to squeal. _

"_Is there anything I can get you? Water? Whatever's in the mini-fridge?" He laughed and declined her offer. _

_That left her awkwardly standing by the door as they stared at each other. She was nervous. She had proven before that whenever she got around him and talked, out came one of her crazy rants. She didn't want to embarrass herself again by going off on a tangent about something he didn't give two shits about, but the silence was killing her. It was slowly eating away at her like those vulture birds that slowly picked away at the dead bodies of poor animals. She felt like the dead animal and John was slowly picking away at her with his strong gaze. Oh what she would do for him to pick away at her clothes. She could already envision those abs through his shirt as if she had x-ray vision. All those nights of seeing him shirtless around the area definitely were working against her now because thinking about that beautifully sculpted chest was making her mind go blank. But it was just any type of mind blank. But the type where nothing was in there except for that image and fantasies about what she could do to that sculpted chest as he sat on her bed. Her bed! John Cena was on her bed! Why hadn't she jumped him yet? _

"_You okay?" She quickly snapped out of her thoughts and looked at John's face. He looked a little apprehensive now. She cursed herself for scaring him without even saying or doing anything. _

"_Yeah I'm fine why do you ask?" She slowly walked over to the bed and sat down a good five feet away from him. _

"_You just got this glazed over look in your eyes; I wasn't sure what was happening." _

"_Oh it was nothing. Just got lost in my thoughts, but anyway, what should we do? Did you have anything in particular in your mind?" She looked at him and this time made sure that her gaze stayed on his face. Not that it was any easier to keep focus. His eyes were so blue like the clear sky in the summer, but later in the day when the sun wasn't completely set, but it was far enough out of the sky that all of the gold and orange was gone. And those lips…she mentally gave her head a shake. She really had to stop. _

"_Well no, nothing in particular. It's just everyone's going out to that stupid club down the street and I just really don't want to be around so many people right now." Maria couldn't help but smile. He didn't want to be around so many people her ass. He wanted to get away from the evil troll! She would have loved to have pounced on him at that very moment, but she knew it wouldn't have been the smartest thing to do. _

_Yeah she wanted to make sure that John and Michelle would break up, but she didn't want Michelle to break up with John because she found out he was fooling around with Maria. She wanted John to see the evil ways of Michelle and then break up with her, because if he was doing the breaking up, he wouldn't need any post-relationship recovery time. He would be able to quickly jump right into a relationship with Maria, and then things would be simple and all would be perfect in her life. _

_So she knew that before anything could happen John would always need an alibi and a strong one in case Michelle got suspicious and started questioning things. Thankfully Maria had thought ahead on this one and came up with possible alibis and places where she and John could be alone and still fool around in her guide book to operation 'Make John See How Beautiful I Am Compared to the Troll Michelle'. _

"_We can go see a movie; I saw a theater not too far from here earlier." She knew it was perfect for him. It was dark so no one would be able to see them, and it gave him a reason to not be in his room when Michelle returned. _

"_That sounds like a good idea." He smiled and they both stood up and walked over to the door. _

Present Day

Maria could hardly remember the title of the movie they had seen. They had picked a random film that looked bad with the hopes that it would be less people in the theater with them. They were right as there was only three other people in the theater. At first they were both unsure as to who was going to make the first move. Maria didn't want to because she didn't want to be wrong about what John had wanted, and he was unsure if she knew what his intentions were. But soon that was all forgotten and once the first move was made, they proceeded to make out for the rest of the move and through all of the credits.

She was still very much in disbelief about what had taken place. She had made out with and had been groped by John Cena! And it hadn't been a dream. She had a couple of hickeys very low down in her cleavage to prove it.

Finally after reliving her night for about the hundredth time she decided it was finally time to get out of her bed and shower. She had to find Candice or any of her close friends to tell them how much of a success her operation was. But before she could take two steps towards her bathroom, there was a knock on her door.

She quickly went over to open it hoping it was John. She was slightly disappointed when it was only Matt, but she wasn't that disappointed because it meant that she had someone to spill her night to.

"Matt you wouldn't believe the night I had last night!" She was practically bouncing with excitement. But it seemed that he didn't even pay attention to anything she had said. He just paced back and forth around her room.

"Maria, Candice and I had sex last night." He stopped pacing and stared at her and she just started back at him unsure if she had heard right.

"Wait does this mean that you guys are back together? Because you guys getting back together would fix things? Right?" It was his turn to stare at her. Maria just sat back down on her bed because something told her this was going to take some time.

"I don't know what it means. I told her we could talk about it later because I don't even know what I want any more." He went back to pacing.

"What do you mean you don't know what you want? Last week you were in my room crying your eyes out talking about how much you missed her and wanted her back. Last night you had sex with her, but suddenly today you don't know what you want anymore?" Maria was very confused. It seemed like her friends changed their emotions towards each other more often than high school teenagers towards the latest fads. Matt glared at her for the crying part she guessed as he stopped his pacing.

"For the record I wasn't crying, there was something in my eye. But I love Candice. Of course I do, that's not just going to go away. But last night she came to my room to talk and my mind was screaming at me how bad she screwed me over. She's dating my brother! But then another part reminded me that while Jeff continuously poured his heart out to me about how he felt for her, I was dating her. So I'm also at fault for this. But I can't just sit back and watch her be with some other guy. But I have to watch it because he's my brother and I already betrayed him once. But the fact that she can be with me in one breath, and then just go and be with Jeff in the next and still come back, have sex with me and still be with Jeff, it just makes me not want to be with her. It's gross to think I'm sharing her with my brother." By the end of his rant, Matt had gone back to pacing.

"Okay, let me get this straight. You love Candice, but at the same time, you kind of hate her because she's still leading you on, but at the end of the day goes home to Jeff." Matt nodded and Maria cocked her head to the side like a confused dog. "Matt, I don't know what to tell you. I mean I understand you love her, and Candice is my best friend, but you can't just sit back and take it while she plays you like a yo-yo. Just step back and figure out what you want without sex clouding your mind." He sighed and turned towards her.

"Why is this so complicated? It would be easier to just hate her or just love her rather than feeling both. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it." Then he was out of the door just as fast as he had stormed in.

Maria frowned realizing that while she listened to Matt rant, she hadn't been able to tell him about her wonderful night. She shrugged and continued with her trip to the bathroom to shower. She wasn't going to let the Matt, Candice and Jeff triangle ruin the high she was still on. But her friends seriously needed to get their shit together. While it was quite entertaining seeing as it was pretty much a real life harlequin novel, it wasn't as enjoyable because someone was going to end up hurt and her friends weren't as fun when they had their own problems to deal with.

* * *

**AN:**_ This chapter is longer but I cut it because as I was writing it, this seemed like a good point to end this chapter. Once again I hope the length of the chapter makes up for the time between updates. The next chapter should be up sometime next week. I love writing this story because it's very easy to write because it's pretty light and simple. Also I am very ahead on Why Should I Care. I got a renewed intrest when I found theme songs to the whole Candice/Matt/Jeff triangle. I stumbled upon the songs when searching for what to name this chapter after. The songs fit perfectly and it excites me a lot that it happened unintentionally even though I loved the songs forever. I hope you liked this chapter! Review and tell me what you think so far! _


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